The fifth program of the Festival began like any other, with the sponsors and the donors of the show being thanked, the winner of the 2017 Sunflower t-shirt being announced, and the audience being reminded of next year’s Festival dates (June 22-June30).

The concert featured three pieces, all composed by French Composers: a four-movement piece by Charles Gounod called “Petite Symphonie”, a three-movement piece by Francis Poulenc called “Sextet, FP 100”, and finally, a four-movement piece by Gabriel Fauré called “Piano Quartet No.1. Op 15”.

The first piece was played by a wind-instrument ensemble, featuring Sarah Frisof on the flute, Gordon Hunt and Margaret Marco on the oboe, Jonathan Gunn and Stephanie Zelnick on the clarinet, Richard Beene and Mark Romatz on the bassoon, and James Thatcher and Bryan Kennedy on the French horn. Frisof, currently an assistant professor at the University of Kansas, led the performances with merry tunes on her flute.

Pianist David Allen Wehr introduced the second piece, “Sextet, FP 100” by talking about the wackiness of it and the beautiful lyricism of it.

“This is full of genius, complex combinations of parts played on different instruments,” he said, and added, “It is essentially a display of eighty minutes of raw energy.”

Other performers in this ensemble were Jennifer Gunn on the flute, Gordon Hunt on the Oboe, Jonathan Gunn on the clarinet, Mark Romatz on the bassoon, and Jim Thatcher on the French horn.

The final piece that was performed was “Piano Quartet No.1. Op 15”. It contained four movements, each different from the other. The first movement was an energetic one, the second movement a playful one, the third was the darkest- probably reflecting the emotional turmoil Fauré was going through at the time, and a fourth movement that saw a silver lining and hope.

By the time the concert was done, the audience leapt to their feet in applause and awaited the talk-back session where they asked about the lives of the musicians on stage.